The Tales of an Intern with a Case of Social-Anxiety: Part 2

February 24, 2017

by Katelyn Brockhaus

Hello All!!

Hope your February is going well!

In my previous blog, I told you about a few events that happened during my first semester at Sundog. This would be part two (as the title implies). One would think that part two would come later, perhaps when my second semester here is coming to close, but no, I have already have some more stories for you and we are just two months into the new year!

Story #3: My First 4 O’clock

My first and only 4 o’clock did not go well. The first semester I was here, I didn’t work Thursday afternoons so I was never able to go. In my second semester, I work during the 4 o’clock hour so I was really excited to go. On that fateful day, I walked down to the 5th floor a little after 4 and there weren’t a ton of people there. I didn’t see anyone that I had talked to previously talked to and most of them were working yet. So I froze and then proceeded to turn around and go back to my desk and continue working. So that was a complete fail on my part. I feel like I might have been early maybe, like it doesn’t actually start at 4.

I don’t really have any take-a-way from this particular event. Just that I should go and try again.

Story #4: 2017 Kickoff party

The Kickoff party is a pretty big event for Sundog – even the Minneapolis office comes in for it! I was on the fence about going – I wanted to go to a Sundog event but I was worried about ending up in a corner not speaking to anyone. Morgan, a fellow intern, convinced me to go and invited me to sit with her. On the day of the party, I had a class assignment due. Fortunately, I got it done and arrived to the party 30 minutes late (arriving late to non-crucial events is kind of my thing).

Luckily, I was able to find Morgan, the person I was going to sit with, right away and arrived just in time for food! There was a great comedian — I don’t get easily offended so I love listening/watching comedians and watching people’s reactions. The awkward part was that I never really left my table and talked to anyone else — I was terrified. So when Morgan left the table to go mingle, it was a little weird but I happened to see someone I knew from my old job and went over to talk to her. While our conversation was ending, the raffle drawings began.

I don’t ever win drawings so I was completely shocked when my name was called for the spa trip gift card!! (Here comes the next socially awkward part) When my name was called, all the people around/in front of me looked at each other and said “Who is that?” or “Do you know that person?” Well I raised my hand so the announcer could see me. The announcer then announced my name again along with “the intern” so all of the people around me then turned and staring as I made my way from the back of the crowd to the front. Pretty sure my face turned bright red from all the people staring at me. After getting my winnings, I sat back down at my table.

Despite these few moments, the party overall was fun, had really good food (not enough dessert unfortunately), a funny comedian, and winning a four-hour pampering at a spa. Even though my little gist of the night makes it sound like I didn’t talk to many people, I actually did talk to quite a few people including a few that I have never spoke to before so I am pretty proud of that.

My take-a-ways from this story would be to still go to events, even though big events make me uncomfortable. You never know what’s going to happen — like win a prize. It’s OK not being a social butterfly or the life of the party. As long as I am having a good time and don’t make things a bigger deal than they really are in my head, it doesn’t matter.

With only being two months into the year, it will be interesting to see what other situations I can get myself into and overcome.